November 2016 Vol

1 SEATTLE RECORDER SOCIETY Recorder Notes November 2016 Vol. XLVIII, No. 3 www.seattle-recorder.org From the Music Director (Vicki Boeckman) Greetings, One and All, SRS Meeting My goodness, what a whirlwind this past Friday, month has been—literally! Hopefully you didn't suffer any hardships in the recent storm with power November 4th, 2016 outages or property damage. I, for one, was—and @ 7:30 pm still am—very grateful that the strength of the storm did not live up to the predicted expectations. I love our trees and our little plot of earth and our house and all the things in it, especially my recorders! Opening Program David Ohannesian Speaking of recorders, I continue to be delighted and encouraged (Tone production) by the glorious sounds emanating from our playing sessions. Even more encouraging for me is the visceral excitement, joy, and pride that seems to be spreading as we create it together. So the music I've chosen for our upcoming November session will be music that seeks to further these Playing Session aspects. While listening to the Flûtes en Bois ensemble play Thomas Tallis’ (Vicki Boeckman) “The Town Lay Hushed,” all I could think of was how lovely it would sound on recorders, so I asked their engraver “Coop” if he would send me his files, Tallis, Byrd, and Blaker and— kind, generous soul that he is—he promptly did. So we will start with Tallis’ “The Town Lay Hushed” in Coop's lovely, bar-less edition. One can hardly play Tallis without a nod to William Byrd, so we will then play one of All sizes of recorders my favorite pieces by Byrd, the 5-part “Lulla Lullaby,” or “Lullaby my sweet are needed, and viols and little baby” from the 1588 collection of Psalmes, Sonets and Songs. After the other soft winds/reeds fantastic reception of Frances Blaker's “In Sight of the Ocean” last month, I'd are always welcome. like to play another one of her hauntingly beautiful, compelling pieces written over a ground bass, “Upwelling.” Upwelling is an oceanographic phenomenon that involves wind-driven motion of dense, cooler, and usually Backroom Gang nutrient-rich water towards the ocean surface, replacing the warmer, usually nutrient-depleted surface water. (“Upwelling,” Wikipedia) (Laura Faber) Music will be provided. I look forward to another evening of lovely music making. As always, feel free to contact me ([email protected]) with any thoughts, comments, or musical requests that you may have, or if you would like a pdf file of the music we will play. Please specify for what size instrument. (continued below) 2 From the Music Director (continued) Recorder Classes (Laura Faber) For our opening program, recorder maker/arborist/ photographer/coffee roaster/collector of rare and marvelous items/all Note: New players are around nice guy David Ohannesian will be doing a demonstration on tone welcome at any time. production and what a player can do to get the best sound out of an Contact Laura to get started. instrument. David and I had several email correspondences about this last year which I will share here. He wrote, “I’ve had all these little bits and pieces of ways to approach tone production floating around in my head for Beginning Ensemble many decades, and I thought maybe other people might be interested to Tuesdays – 10 to 11:30 am listen to them. I may mention some aspects of voicing in passing, but I’m more interested in what a player can do to get the best sound out of an Lower Intermediate Ensemble instrument.” This comes at a very opportune time on the heels of Anne Tuesdays – 7 to 9 pm Timberlake's comprehensive article on tuning (see the following pages). I am excited to hear David's presentation and eager to put theory into Intermediate Ensemble practice during our subsequent playing session! Thurs. – 10:30 am to 12:30 pm Laura Faber will be leading the Backroom Gang for anyone who Bass Ensemble prefers a smaller group or needs to brush off the dust and rust of distant Saturdays – 10 am to 12 pm past recorder techniques. * * * Class Descriptions Save the Dates: Port Townsend Workshop! Beginning Ensemble (SATB) Simple and fun music chosen for Save the dates for the Port Townsend Early Music Workshop— players who are new to a week-long workshop in the Pacific Northwest with a stellar faculty! recorders, adding a new size instrument, or needing a little more support. When: July 9-15, 2017 Intermediate Ensemble Where: The beautiful campus of University of Puget Sound(UPS) in Tacoma (SATBGB) Medieval to modern music for Recorder/Flute/Early Winds: players comfortable with Adam Gilbert, Alison Melville, Clea Galhano common fingerings and Miyo Aoki, Nina Stern, Paul Leenhouts rhythms who are interested in Peter Seibert, Rotem Gilbert, Vicki Boeckman developing their technique further. Skills in progress Voices/Viols/Mixed Consorts: include playing both F and C Jack Ashworth, Joanna Blendulf instruments, reading alto up, Wendy Gillespie, Ellen Seibert counting halves, and reading from parts. Bass Ensemble (BGB) Seattle Recorder Soirée — Ongoing Enjoy the sound of low instruments? This energetic ensemble plays music arranged First Tuesdays of Every Month or composed for basses and 7:30 pm to 9:00 pm explores bass technique. Couth Buzzard Books & Café Buono 8310 Greenwood Ave N, Seattle, WA 98103 * * * (206) 436-2960, www.buonobuzzard.com FREE !!! Donations and purchases appreciated. People who are interested should contact Laura by email at • Contact: Chris Corfman at [email protected] or (206) 227-5619. [email protected] or by calling (206) 619-0671. 1 The Devil’s in the Details: Tuning Tips from Recorder Professional Anne Timberlake (From the ARS e-mag NOVA; October 2016) One of the questions I'm asked most frequently as a teacher is how to play in tune on the recorder. There is, unfortunately, no magic tuning fork. The recorder may be relatively easy to pick up and make noise on, but as many have discovered, it's an instrumental honey trap, keeping its difficulties in reserve until you're hooked! It is absolutely possible to play in tune on the recorder, and some intelligent work can help you move closer to your goal. Change your mindset The ability to play in tune is a skill. It is not a talent, something a person possesses or not. Nor is it a discrete piece of knowledge that can be absorbed and implemented in one go. Whether or not you can play in tune does not speak to your musicianship, intelligence, or value as a person. Be kind to yourself, and to others! Anne Timberlake Skills require practice, but are ultimately accessible to everyone. It is true that, due to innate predisposition or prior experience, some of us pick up particular skills more quickly than others. But with focused practice over time, anyone can improve a skill. Viewing tuning as a learnable skill, just like moving your fingers between notes, is the first step to playing better in tune. Improve your tone Recorders are designed to play in tune when they're being blown correctly. If you're not producing a clear, open, resonant, and steady tone on the recorder, there's a very small chance that you're playing in tune. In contrast, if you are breathing efficiently and producing an excellent tone, you've fought at least half the battle already. Tone is among the trickiest things to improve on the recorder. The best way to improve your tone is to work with a teacher—learning to blow and breathe properly is a complex process that benefits from expert advice and consistent feedback. You can find a teacher on the American Recorder Society website. If you don't have access to a teacher, the ARS website has a series of instructional videos by recorder professional Vicki Boeckman. Learn your instrument The recorder is a sensitive—and particular!—instrument. Every recorder is different, and each note on the recorder wants to be blown in a specific way. Spend time with each of your recorders, learning their tendencies. Is your recorder particularly sharp? Is this particular note unusually low? A tuner with a needle can be useful for this task. If the recorder is generally out of tune, it can be “pulled out” or “pushed in.” In other words, the head joint can be slightly pulled away from the body, lengthening the instrument and lowering its pitch, or pushed back in, raising its pitch back up. Make sure your recorder is warmed up before you assess its tuning, since a warm recorder will be a different pitch than a cold one. And make sure you don't pull out very far—more than a few millimeters and you will have disrupted the relationships between individual notes. Photo by Jennifer Carpenter 2 The Devil’s in the Details (continued) Step away from the needle Tuning comprises two separate, yet interlocking, skills: the ability to hear whether something is in tune, and the ability to adjust your playing according to what you hear. A tuner that provides you with visual feedback, like a needle or lights, is very useful when you're working on the first of these skills. But many people still rely on the needle when it comes time to practice adjusting their own tuning. This is a mistake. You don't need to learn how to adjust your tuning to visual feedback. You need to learn to adjust to a note you hear, whether that note be in tune, sharp, or flat. Instead of the needle, use a drone.

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